rank

Rank, a position or row, and rank, coarse or foul-smelling, are different words.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ræŋk/^[4]

rank¹ position

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ranc, borrowed from Old French ranc, a variant of renc, reng “row, line”,^[5][1][3] from Frankish *hring or another Germanic source,^[5][1] from Proto-Germanic *hringaz (“circle, ring”).^[5][2] It is related to ring, range and harangue.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A row, line or series: before 1325 in Barnhart, the early 14th century in Etymonline.^[1][5] The OED dates it from 1570, in common use from about 1580.^[7]

Semantic evolution

A row of an army is from about 1400,^[5] and a social class or high status from the early 15th century (about 1430 in Barnhart).^[5][1] A relative position, as in the first rank, is from Shakespeare's Macbeth in 1605.^[1][5] One of the rows across a chessboard is by the 1570s.^[5][7] Rank and file was used of soldiers in formation in 1598, of common soldiers from 1796, and of ordinary people from 1860.^[1][6] A row of taxis waiting for hire is from about 1843.^[7][8] The verb, to arrange in lines, is from 1573,^[1][3] to classify from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in 1592,^[1] and to outrank by 1841.^[5]

Timeline

• a. 1325 – a row.^[1]
• c. 1430 – social rank.^[1]
• 1573 – verb, to arrange in lines.^[1]
• 1598 – rank and file.^[1]
• 1605 – a relative position.^[1]
• c. 1843 – a taxi rank.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A position in an organization such as the army: the rank of captain.
2. A position in a society or a scale of value.
3. High social position.
4. A row or line, especially of soldiers, or of taxis waiting.
5. (plural) Ordinary soldiers, or the members of a group: the ranks.

Verb

1. To give a position in a scale to someone or something; to classify.
2. To have a particular position in a scale.
3. (US) To be higher in rank than someone.

rank² coarse, foul

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ranc, rank, inherited from Old English ranc (“proud, overbearing, showy”),^[5][1][3] from Proto-Germanic *rankaz, the source also of German rank “slender” and Old Norse rakkr “straight, erect”, of uncertain origin.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Proud, overbearing, showy: about 1000 in Barnhart, in Old English.^[1][5][2]

Semantic evolution

Strong or violent is from about 1250.^[1][2] Of plants, growing vigorously or too thickly, it is from about 1300,^[5][2] and large and coarse also from about 1300.^[5] Corrupt or loathsome is from the mid-14th century, perhaps influenced by French rance “rancid”.^[5] Extreme, utter, as in rank folly, is from 1513,^[1][5] and having a strong bad smell from before 1529, in Skelton.^[1][5] The OED notes that the history of its senses is far from clear.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – proud.^[1]
• c. 1300 – of plants, luxuriant.^[5]
• mid-14th century – foul.^[5]
• 1513 – utter.^[1]
• a. 1529 – foul-smelling.^[1]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Having a strong, unpleasant smell or taste.
2. Complete; utter: a rank beginner.
3. Growing too thickly and coarsely.
4. Offensive or disgusting.

Related words

• ring
• range
• harangue

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press